Sweeney Todd Alternate Ending
by Balletdancer202
Summary: If Todd recognized his wife and daughter, how would the story have ended?


**Disclaimer: I don't own Sweeney Todd or it's characters. **

**Please Read and Review. I also have a POTO fanfic up, so please R&R both of them! Thank you!**

The Beggar Woman looked around Fleet Street for Judge Turpin. She knew he would be coming for his appointment with Mr. Todd. She knew everything about this street, even though she was half-mad. The poison had wiped some of her memory, but she still had wits. She was still a woman underneath the dirt. She still needed love. She was just twenty-one when she married. She had been beautiful, and innocent, and still retained that innocence even as she screamed in pain from labor, even as she sang lullabies to her infant child. That was years ago, and now, she was forced to watch her little Johanna grow into a woman only from a small window.

All at once, she was ripped from her thoughts when she saw Beadle. Beadle…

She remembered being led into Turpin's house as the people in masks danced. She drank that night, in trying to soothe her nerves. Beadle led her there and left her. Turpin…he found her and took her. She screamed for Beadle to rescue her, she screamed for Turpin to stop, but she screamed for her husband most of all. But Benjamin Barker couldn't hear her…

She raced into the pie shop, and, upstairs. She began singing. "Beedle, deedle, deelde dum…" as she sang the mindless tune, she had a flashback. She opened the "window," as if to look for someone. She moved and picked up a small doll and began to rock it, as though it were a crying baby. In her mind she saw Johanna.

She was halfway through her lullaby when Todd appeared, the white stripe in his hair making him seem more livid. "You!" he spat at her. "What are you doing here?"

"Evil is here, sir…"

"Out, Woman!" he hissed.

She tried to explain herself, but he cut her off. "Out, I say!"

That same instant, they heard Judge Turpin's voice.

"Turpin…" hissed Todd as he tried to force her into the chair to end her life.

"Do I know you from somewhere?" asked The Beggar. Todd's brown eyes stared at her and something sparked from her memory. But she could remember what it was, and it would pain her till the end of her days. She fought him, fighting for her life, and as they struggled, her large hat, which hid her face, flew off. Just as he brought the blade to her neck to kill her, two blue eyes stared back at him. _I'm seeing things, _he thought to himself. He wanted to mercilessly kill her, but something inside him told him not to. Those eyes…he knew they belonged only to one person. He remembered those eyes on a woman he walked with one spring day. He loved the owner of those eyes…The one person they belonged to was his wife who was named…

"…Lucy."

Upon hearing her name, Lucy stiffened involuntarily. "No!" she ran away from him. Todd, angered, pulls her back to him. "Turpin, no! Ben will come back and kill you if you—"

At that moment, Todd realized that Lucy was reliving her worst nightmare. The night Turpin raped her. She could never forget it. That was what drove her mad.

Todd forced his wife against a wall and cupped her face in his hands. Her hair was straw like and no longer golden. She had dirt on her face. But to him, she was still beautiful. "Lucy…it's me. It's…" he struggled to use his name, for Benjamin Barker was dead inside him. A memory permanently locked away.

"Lucy, it's Ben."

Lucy, taken aback, stared into his eyes. "…Ben?" she asked.

He nodded, and in response, Lucy Barker fell into her husband's arms and kissed him. Sweeney Todd wrapped his arms around his beloved wife. He pushed hair behind her ears, revealing her beautiful face. They heard footsteps as a young sailor emerged upstairs in the doorway. It was Johanna.

"Hide me!" she begged. "Turpin's coming!" Lucy felt anger boil inside her. Turpin loved her own daughter as she once did her, and to see the fear in the now sixteen year old girl's eyes made her back stiffen. She looked desperately to her husband, who motioned for Johanna to hide in a trunk. Quickly, Johanna hid in the box. He shut the latch, ensuring his daughter's safety just as Turpin entered. Lucy hid herself in the closet and the door shut as the entry door to the barber shop opened.

"Todd!" cried Turpin as he entered. "Hello, Judge Turpin," said Todd as he fought all urge to strangle Turpin. Turpin sat in the chair and Todd threw the cloth over him as he slathered his face with shaving cream. He brought out his razor blade and began.

He studied the man's face. "Something wrong?" Todd asked innocently.

"Yes…my ward…she refused my proposal. Another…man…a sailor…is after her."

Todd nodded, knowing full well Turpin loved his little dove Johanna. "How old is your ward, Your Honor?"

Turpin smiled. "She's sixteen, and she'll be seventeen soon." Todd smiled, and he easily remembered the midwife announcing Johanna was born and that Lucy was alive.

Instantly, Todd became angered, and his smile was wiped off his face faster than it would have been is he were slapped. How dare he try to marry his little lamb, his sweet Johanna?! Rage boiled inside Todd, even then just as Lovett entered.

"Mr. Todd, Anthony Hope is downstairs, and he wants to talk to you."

"Can it wait, Lovett?"

"No, 'fraid not."

Todd nodded and left the room, slamming the door.

Johanna, hearing the door close, opened the trunk and saw a tall man. Mistaking it to be Todd, she opened it fully. But Turpin was right there. And he saw her innocent face.

"Ah, sweet Johanna!" he crooned. "Trying to get away with your…rogue, I see." Johanna, obviously scared, said in a weak voice: "No, not at all, loving Father."

He rushes to his ward and brutally snatched her from her hiding place. "Are you sure?" he sneers, pulling off her cap to show her golden hair that spilled down on her back. She was so innocent…but he would change that. "My beautiful little Johanna…"

"What do you want of me?" Johanna spat to hide the fact that she was frightened to death.

"You won't be innocent when I'm done, Johanna." In that instant, he forced his lips on hers. She tried to scream as his hands possessively pulled her towards him. She fought him as she felt his hands go down her pants and touch her bare legs. Finally, she let out an ear-piercing shriek before Turpin smuggled it. He kissed her and moaned: "Lucy, Lucy, Lucy…"

He got his wish, for Lucy emerged from her hiding place and immediately tackled Turpin to the ground, throwing her weight against him. "Who in the devil…?" Lucy was on top of him, and he wasn't happy about it. She was going to lose if no one came to their aid. "Johanna, get help!" she ordered. Johanna raced downstairs, obeying.

"Who are you?" demanded the man.

"Don't you know?"

He was taken aback. He heard this innocent voice in only two women. Johanna and…

"Lucy, my Lucy…"

She hit him, disgusted. "Lucy _Barker_," she hissed. Forcefully, he kissed her and she fought him, and managed to throw him off her. She got up from the floor and picked up her husband's razor blade and held it in front of herself. "I will if I have to!" she crowed. He laughed to himself. _Innocent Lucy Barker would never do that,_ he thought.

Just then, Todd and Johanna emerged. "NO!" Todd screamed. He picked up a razor and attempted to throw, but he missed. Turpin ran for Johanna, and held her by the throat.

"You kill me, and I strangle little Johanna."

Todd glared at him with vengeance, his anger growing more so by the minute. He watched innocent little Johanna get strangled and it ripped out his killing heart. He would gladly give everyone he killed their life if his turtle-dove, his sweet Johanna, would live. Lucy clutched his arm in fear. She hated Turpin even more.

Johanna begged with her eyes to be helped, but neither her mother nor her mother can help her. Lucy and Sweeney apologized with their eyes. Sweeney was visibly wounded as he saw Johanna's brown eyes—his eyes—beg him to grant her mercy.

A gunshot could be heard and the Judge collapsed. Johanna inhaled air, having been denied it. Todd moved towards his enemy, razor blade in hand.

Johanna was frightened. She looked towards Mr. Todd, who was moving dangerously close to her with a razor. She feared she was going to die, and Turpin, alive but wounded, was grabbing at her. She looked towards the Beggar Woman. She remembered looking out and seeing her there when she was little and they would wave to each other. But Johanna instantly remembered that the woman was half crazy. Still, she crawled to her and the woman sat and held Johanna in her arms like a mother to a child.

Todd held the razor blade at Turpin's throat, attempting to finish him off. He turned toward his wife and child. "Don't look." Johanna hid her eyes in her mother's shoulder and Lucy shut her eyes. Cruelly, he glared at his nemesis. He looked into his enemy's scared eyes and Turpin looked up at him, eyes gaping with fear. Todd gloated in his mind. "Barker…"

"Miss me?"

"BENJAMIN BARKER!" he yelled before his throat was slit.

Sweeney kneeled over the corpse. _Revenge, at last, _he thought as he picked up the corpse and sent it down the chute.

Lucy watched as her husband sent the body down the chute. She smiled to herself. She knew that one day, one long-awaited day; her husband would avenge the stealing of his wife's innocence. He had also stolen sweet Johanna, and now, Lucy savored the feeling of her daughter in her arms. Just then, a young man appeared.

"Johanna?"

Johanna looked up to see Anthony Hope standing there. "Anthony!" she cries, running into his arms. She sobs against him, and both Todd and Lucy exchange a smile and glance. Their little girl, now grown up, had found love. She looked into his eyes and he picked her up, holding her to him. "It's been so long…" Lucy whispers.

"Yes, my dear, it has," Todd said, kissing her forehead. Lucy was glad she had found her husband, and didn't care that he had murdered innocent people. He did it in her name. After all, she had poisoned herself to the point of insanity. Todd didn't blame her for it.

Just then, all four heard a gut wrenching scream. They heard someone race up the stairs. It was Mrs. Lovett. Her wild red hair was spewed out. She looked as pale as death.

"Mr….Todd," she asked. "The Judge…he's gone."

Todd nodded, glancing back at the Beggar Woman.

Mrs. Eleanor Lovett was taken aback. How dare Todd wrap his arms around that woman? It should be her, not that crazy witch!

Lovett angrily stormed over to the Beggar Woman, but Todd stepped in front of her, defending the wife he just got back. Lovett stopped dead in her tracks.

"Lovett, I can see clearly that you don't recognize my _wife_," he hissed. The woman appeared shocked, but Lucy herself could see clearly that it was a façade.

"You're…wi-wife, Todd?"

"Lovett!" he hissed. "You knew she lived! You KNEW!" He had to restrain himself, or he would kill her.

"I…I…"

"Why, Lovett, why?"

"Because she can't make a good wife now, she's half insane!"

"So are you, Lovett!"

Lovett races downstairs. She loved Barker…loved him more than anything. How could he repay her like this…?

These questions burned in her mind as she opened the oven and welcomed the flames.

Todd heard the oven open and close. He could smell Lovett's burning flesh. She had killed herself. He knew she would die either way, either by his hand or by her own. She took the easier way out.

"Mr. Todd?" asked Anthony.

"Yes?"

"Why did Turpin call you 'Benjamin Barker?'"

He expected this dreaded question. He took a deep breath, and began to answer it.

* * *

Epilogue

Lucy Barker stood on the edge of the London coast, peering out at the cold gray sea before her. But to her, this water wasn't cold. No, not this water, the London Sea. It brought her Anthony Hope, her (as she suspected) future son-in-law. It also brought her Benjamin Barker home. He had become Benjamin Barker again, and they still lived above Mrs. Lovett's Pie Shop. Only now, she ran it herself, and the pies weren't filled with human flesh. She had been friends with Nellie, and she herself taught her the trade, and only now, Lucy was able to use it. Toby, Nellie's adoptive son, had become their (she hesitated to use this term) ward. A breeze whipped her now golden hair back, and the gray overcast sky was dark in contrast to her eyes, which had returned to blue. She was healthy again. A year had passed since her husband had killed Turpin, and a year since their family was reunited, also.

Arms wrapped around her. She felt her husband's lips kiss her forehead. "Lucy…" he whispered. She smiled. "Yes?" she asked. She turned to face him. Gone was the white streak of shock from his hair, and his eyes were a warmer shade of brown. He had become a better man, as she had become a better woman.

"I love you," he whispered, kissing her.

"I love you, too Ben," whispered his virtuous wife.

"What are you doing out here?"

"Reflecting. I'm just glad that you're home."

"I dreamed of coming home…to you and Johanna."

Lucy nodded. They had saved their daughter before she could be claimed into Turpin's evil clutches. But now, she would be safe. Anthony Hope was going to propose as soon as Johanna turned eighteen. Lucy couldn't be prouder.

"Let's go back."

She took his hand, and together, the happy parents walked back to their daughter, soon to be son-in-law, and ward. They were a family, at last.


End file.
